WWE Smackdown 7/31/2026

WWE Smackdown 7/31/2026

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2026/07/wwe-smackdown-7242026.html

We are in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Wade Barrett and Joe Tessitore are on commentary. 

We see various wrestlers arrive.

Finn Balor comes out to talk. Finn says he can't help but think about Summerslam 2016 where he went from the highs of winning the title then the lows of having to relinquish the title. He says he's been scratching and clawing since. He says we are close to getting back where we were.

Sami Zayn interrupts. Sami says he has some things to get off his chest. He says Summerslam should be a triple threat with him vs Cody and Punk. He says he'd love to see Cody as the WWE champ again as he already beat him to become champ and could do it again.

He says he'd like to see CM Punk retain also. He says Punk is now Corporate Poster Boy #2. He says he'd like to take the title back from the man who stole it to begin with. Sami says he respects Finn. Finn says he should have respect and balls and say what he has to say to his face.

Sami comes down. Sami says everyone knows how great Finn is. He says Finn should have been a WWE champ 2-3 times by now. He says Finn needs to understand the moment belongs to Sami. Sami says Finn had his time and it's Sami time. Sami says the title is about justice for Sami. 

Finn says what about justice for Finn? Finn says he has spent the last 10 years trying to get back to this moment. Sami says if it took him 10 years and he didn't' come close, maybe he should take the hint. Finn says it took Sami 10 years to get a smell of the title. Finn says he had to relinquish the title but Sami just lost. 

Sami says if he was anyone else, he'd drop him right now. He says he won't though as he's a good guy. Sami says he will walk away and see him at Summerslam. Gunther then runs in and sends Finn into Sami. Gun lariats Finn and short arm lariats Sami. Gun says they are both a joke. Gun says he's the #1 contender. 

Adam Pearce comes out with security and asks him what he's doing. Gun asks him what he has to do to get what's his. He asks if he needs to beat up Adam too. Finn then runs at Gun and forearms him from behind. Sami then hits Gun and Finn hits Sami. Finn is sent into the rails. Nick Aldis then comes out and punches Gun. Gun's head is banged off the rails. Gun takes a texas cloverleaf from Nick and security breaks it up. Gun facekicks Nick down and Nick is pulled away.

Thoughts: The Sami and Finn argument made both look weak here but them tying Gunther and Aldis in wasn't bad.

Tiffany Stratton and Chelsea Green vs Michin and B-Fab

Fab forearms and knees Tiff in the gut. Fab spin kicks her in the corner. Tiff dropkicks her from behind. Tiff trips both opponents into the 2nd rope then Tiff and Green hit hip attacks and meteora's on them. Green low sliding flatliners both opponents.

We go to break and return. Fab slaps Green. Green hits shots to the gut and jawbreakers her. Green step up enzugiri's her. Tiff comes in and hits lariats on Mich. Tiff spinning back elbows her. Tiff cartwheel alabama slams Mich. Tiff top rope swantons her for 2. 

Tiff codebreakers Fab off the steps outside. Jade then sends Tiff into the post. Green is up top and headbutts Mich down. Green top rope dropkicks Mich. Mich superkicks Green and Green takes a double team drop on her chest/face and is pinned.

Thoughts: It was short and not too much of note. Tiff and Green were too smiley here as faces for me. The heels didn't really impress here.

Charlotte Flair comes out in some goofy looking jacket with shoulderpads. Green and Tiff pull out Mich and Fab and fight them outside. Flair comes in and trades shots with Jade. Flair facekicks her. 

Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonaugh talk to Fraxiom and Rey Fenix. JD says they are looking for Danhausen. Rey says they haven't seen him. Dom says Rey has been hiding in Mexico. Rey says she's ready to fight. Dom says Rey's AAA Cruiserweight Title will look good on JD. Rey challenges JD to a match and JD says he will talk to Pearce to make it official.

Tama Tonga and Talla Tonga do a promo. Tama says they forgot who they are and why they are here. Talla says they were too busy fighting Solo's battles. Talla says they will put their family first. Haku walks in with a stick and says not to forget who they are. Haku says they are The Sons of Haku. He says to go and make them fear once again.

WWE Tag Titles vs AAA Tag Titles - Damian Priest and R-Truth vs The War Raiders (Ivar and Erik)

DP hits punches on Erik and Erik clubs him. DP pounds on him in the corner. Erik takes a russian legsweep + flying forearm combo. Truth corner splashes Erik and Erik knocks Truth out of the ring from behind. Erik running knees Truth in the face. DP tries to jump on his opponents but is caught and rammed into the rails. Ivar crossbodies Truth and DP against the rails.

We go to PiP break and return. DP hurricanrana's Ivar off the top. DP ear claps Erik and drops him with a forearm. DP is popped up into a powerslam for 2. The Raiders pound on Truth in the corner and push the ref away. DP clubs The Raiders and pushes the ref down. The ref then throws the match out.

Thoughts: I'm glad it ended the way it did as I didn't want to see the AAA Tag Titles get merged or be stuck on the main roster. We only got so much of this before it ended and we didn't get a clean finish here. 

The fight continues outside after. Erik is sent into the podium and knocks it over. Erik is sent over the rail and Ivar hits Truth with the podium. The four fight in the crowd. Truth jumps off a rail onto everyone. DP lariats The Raiders over the rail and into ringside. Talla and Tama Tonga then attack both teams. Truth is thrown into the post and Talla pounds on DP. Tama hidden blades Erik in the ring. Talla chokeslams DP. Haku then comes out and poses with Talla and Tama.

 We see clips from a house show last night with Cody hitting a back elbow on Punk. 

CM Punk is interviewed by Cathy Kelly. Punk says him and Cody don't have to be friends and says they were running from the match for a while. Punk says he will still be champ at the end of Summerslam. 

Trick Williams interrupts. He says sooner or later he's coming for the champ. Punk says Trick's a little greedy and he's upset he lost the match. He says he needs new challenges. He says he will whoop that trick when he gets to the top of the mountain.

Nick Aldis does a video. He says it's been an honor be the SD GM, but his first dream was to be a wrestler. He says he won and defended titles against hall of famers, icons and legends. He says he was committed to being the best GM he could be and left the wrestler part behind. He says that was fine until Gunther pushed him too far. He says his choice was to face him like a man.

Trick Williams comes out to talk. He says Baron Corbin came back to SD to hate on him. He says Baron makes him sick and tells him to come out. 

Baron Corbin comes out with a different theme than he had in NXT. Baron says Trick loves hearing the sound of his own voice. Baron says he learned lessons while he was away about patience. He says WWE strapped the rocket to his back Trick came and he doesn't know about patient. He says Trick wants everything and that will be his downfall. Baron says it will feel like he's in quicksand at Summerslam. He says when the panic sets in, he will cut off the oxygen to his brain.

Trick says they both know he won't do nothin'. Trick asks what this is about. Trick says the only thing he is collecting is a lemon pepper stepper up his @ss. Baron asks if he wants to fight right now but says it won't happen. Baron says he's a dumb rookie that doesn't understand and he doesn't care what he wants. Baron says that's a lesson of patience right there. Baron says he's taking the title on Sunday and there's nothing Trick can do about it. Trick says no title will be taken and it'll be 35,000 chanting "Whoop That Trick".

We get a video on Brock vs Oba at HIAC.

AAA Cruiserweight Title - Rey Fenix (c) vs JD McDonaugh

JD takes him down and Rey bridges. Rey monkey flips him and chops him. Rey does rope tricks and corkscrew diving armdrags JD. Rey sunset flips him. JD misses a standing moonsault and slides out to avoid a kick. 

JD foot chokes Rey. Rey springboard dropkicks him off the apron. Rey misses a slingshot plancha and JD asai moonsaults him ouside. We go to PiP break and return. 

Rey fights out of a hold and JD forearms him. Rey superkicks him out of the corner then springboard crossbodies him. Rey hits a high angle death valley driver for 2. Rey clubs on JD and spin kicks him in the face. Rey handspring cutters him. JD standing spanish flies him for 2. 

Rey tiger feints and superkicks JD. Rey goes up top and Dom Mysterio gets on the apron. JD crotches Rey up top. The ref ejects Dom. Dom goes to leave then Danhausen comes out. Dan goes to curse him and is forearmed down. The Minihausen's then jump Dom. Dom runs to the back. Rey rope walk kicks JD. Rey flying double knees him in the corner. Rey hits a mexican muscle buster and pins him.

Thoughts: Rey mostly did kicks here and some of those could have been better. I don't think it to got be as good as it could have due to the break and the stuff with Danhausen. It was acceptable though.

We get a Roman vs Seth video.

Ladder Match Qualifier - Giulia vs Lash Legend

G = Giulia

G hits kicks to the lead. G does a flying octopus and Lash bangs her head off the ropes. Lash then air raid crashes her off of it. G does a rings of saturn on the mat. G running knees her for 2. G guillotines her in the air. Lash breaks it and hits the lash extension to pin her.

Thoughts: Lash won quick here in a big surprise. It was competitive just not very long. This doesn't bode well for Giulia as Lash isn't high on the totem pole.

Cody Rhodes comes out. CM Punk interrupts Cody's entrance as he poses and heads to the ring. Punk says it doesn't feel great and is like Cody putting an elbow in his face. Cody says he knows Punk and sees through him sometimes. He says Punk had to know that they were already on this path towards each other. He complains about the title shot falling in Punk's lap.

Punk says he knew he would ruffle some feathers. He says he got asked to show up for Chicago for a title shot and he will take it. He says he hopes it p!sses people off. Punk says it's about the title. He says he's not his friend and won't be his friend tomorrow. He says he needs to know who the best wrestler is between them for business purposes.

Cody then grabs the mic and does his, "What do you want to talk about?". Cody says Punk's "business purposes" line is double talk. He says Punk's title isn't business, it's personal. Cody says the title means you are the best in the world and call the shots. Cody says Punk was the one who said it's not about friends but money. Punk says he didn't come to make friends or lose them. He says if it comes down to losing friends or the title, tomorrow won't be Cody's night. 

Cody says Punk made it clear what he wants to do tomorrow night at Summerslam. He says he should ask him what he wants to do about it tonight. Punk takes his jacket off and does a fighting pose. Cody throws his jacket into the crowd and they stare down. Cody throws the first punch and they hockey fight. Cody running lariats him. Cody lariats Punk over the top and bangs his head off the commentary table.  Officials come to break the fight up and they fight on top of the commentary table. They then fight against the rails and trade punches as the show ends. 

Overall thoughts: A whole lot of people weren't wrestling on this one, likely because Summerslam is tomorrow. I liked the beginning of the show and was okay with the end of it, but the rest of it didn't do much for me. The women's tag didn't impress. The tag title match went to a no contest but Haku returned. Rey vs JD was acceptable. Lash Legend squashed Giulia and here was no big main to close the show. I'd give this a 5 out of 10 as it was average overall.